Threads of Thought

It was autumn 2013 and I was surprised with an invite to join Edwina Ibbotson and another apprentice, Mee on a field trip up to Luton to visit three millinery suppliers. Boon & Lane the block makers, Baxter, Hart & Abraham suppliers of felt, straw, and petersham, and Randall Ribbons suppliers of feathers, flowers, an endless array of sinamay colors and much more.

Just arrived in Luton, Mee, Me and Edwina

We drove to Luton in Edwina’s light blue vintage Mercedes. That is an experience unto itself. It takes me about 10 minutes to figure out how to do the old seat belts. It is an odd hook and magnet device.  The journey to Luton is about 40 miles through London and takes over an hour and 45 minutes, but we arrive mid morning at our first destination, Boon & Lane.

Edwina and the vintage blue

Boon and Lane  are the block makers. This was an experience to remember. There were two men working in the block factory that was filled  with wood and sawdust on one half and different types of sand on the other. They make both wood and aluminium (also spelled aluminum in the USA, so the reason we pronounce this word differently is that it actually spelled differently in the UK vs US) blocks.  The aluminium blocks are used for more industrial use, where they are attached to a heating device and there is a top and bottom piece that clamps together to form the hat shape all at once.

Alan Davies and Steve Lane make everything.  When I was there, Alan was working on wood blocks while Steve handled the sand packing in preparation for the molten aluminium. They were welcoming and generous with their time. Explaining what they were doing, the stages of making a hat block and showing us the various pieces of equipment.

Steve Lane tamping sand for Aluminum hat block

Edwina showing Alan her foam block sample.

Stages of a wood hat block

Thus far in my hat career, I’d done very little blocking, but I was completely seduced by being there. As you are sure to have guessed, today would be my first custom made block purchase. I choose a large downward flat 45 degree brim block and an oval head shaped flat topped crown block with slightly rounded edges, to contrast the domed oval crown block I had in my very limited collection. It took a couple of months for the blocks to be made. Shortly before Christmas, Edwina came back one day with her new blocks along with my freshly varnished crown and brim blocks. They were beautiful shiny golden yellow with my name and the year stamped into them. The excitement was only dimmed a bit as I tried to figure out how I was going to get this massive brim block home on my bike. Alas, I could only manage the crown block that day on the bike, I’d have to wait and bring it home on the bus a couple days later. The journey was made easier by using my very large linen furoshiki

My blocks from Boon and Lane, can you see my name. I’ve been using the crown and it has a felt on it to make it a little bigger for my head size.

Next stop –Baxter, Hart & Abraham, suppliers to the millinery trade. This place of tidy and well organized. The textile junkie in me thrilled to touch the various different felts. Wool felt, fur felt, and the really furry felts called Melusine. Then there was the colors. My shopping strategy goes, walking around and gather everything I want.  Then doing a mental subtotal of how much it will cost. Then feeling anxious about how much I have, then putting back some of my treasures, until I don’t feel the sense of financial panic. I bought several wool felts to practice on without too much financial impact, but my prize purchases were a yummy small (cone) cognac (gold) and a beautiful large (capeline) grey fur felt. It was glorious and I was so nervous at messing  up the fur felts. I envisioned a gray (grey) large brimmed hat with a fairly simple crown that I could wear all winter. However, it wasn’t going to be that winter that I’d get to wear it.

My Treasures from Baxter, Hart and Abraham.

Last stop- Randall Ribbons, the makers of all things feathers and flowers. They had a minimum order. Their website says a minimum order of £30.  I did not spend anything at Randall Ribbons.  I think I was a bit overwhelmed by this point.  I had placed a rather sizable order at the block makers, and purchased enough felt at the millinery suppliers to keep me busy for a while. And honestly I just could not envision how I would trim these new hats of mine. I would have bought a simple hat pin or something, but with a minimum order, I left with nothing. I cannot say the same for Edwina or Mee.

Feather sample board from Randall Ribbons

Just a small sample of the boxes of flowers at Randall Ribbons.

Colors of Sinamay at Randall Ribbons

We only went to three places, but it was such a full day. Many thanks to Edwina for the tour of Luton and Mee for being a newbie like me. It was nice to be able to listen to someone else’s questions.

Since the field trip to Luton, I’ve heard the name mentioned several time in relation to the hat making and millinery industry.  In this country they have been making things for a very long time. Thankfully there are others who love doing to research and writing of the history and I get to read the fruits of their labour.  It was oddly relevant as I have just begun taking a strip straw class at Morley College with Jane Smith.

Stay tuned for future episodes about Luton History and my Strip Straw Saga.

Going out for my birthday in my new cloche, version 1

My first attempt at a podcast and its about my first felt hat shape which is a cloche.

The Cloche was my first felt hat. I learned so much from this one little hat. It has been altered at least three times.  My husband had to scouch down and look up under the hat to see me. I had to reduce the crown height as it was so tall than it could come down around my eyes. I also reduced the brim length especially at the back. It is perfect now, a bit worse for wear as I’ve knocked it around a bit but still comfortable and looks great with my burgundy boots and black wool coat.

My First Felt Hat

Hattin’ Around podcast

A couple times a year our group(Window Covering Association of America-WCAA) goes to special events. Yves Saint Laurent (YSL), a fashion designer may seem an odd choice for home designers and workrooms, but there is much to be learned from each other.  One of the things I learned was, even YSL borrowed ideas from other artists and cultures.

I am not a clothes hound, but I lust for beautiful textiles, proportions and craftsmanship. Thus going to the Yves Saint Laurent show appealed to me on a different level than it would for many other people. I was looking for fun, inspiring ideas to share with my clients and construction techniques for home decor and soft goods, rather than clothing.

 

Look but don’t touch! These activities can be torturous to me.  I need to touch and explore how things are done.  However the black suited museum workers wouldn’t even let me wear my purse on my back, for fear I’d bump into a display, let alone allow me to touch anything. But the thirst for knowledge is strong!  Imagine for a moment the mystery of a hem held up by magic, then me on my knees on the floor, while I trying to look up an Yves Saint Laurent Dress to see how they made the hem without any stitches.  “Is fully lined?” No, well darn, it looks hemmed but where are the stitches. How did they do that?  That question remains unanswered.

However a couple of other questions were answered by the internet and Trish at the Textile Arts Council.  Several of us noticed a couple of fabrics and an embellishment we’d never heard of:

Barathea Wool: A closely woven fabric of worsted silk, rayon, cotton, or wool, having a pebbled surface. English in origin and originally made as a mourning cloth.  It is very hard wearing and still often dyed black.  In case you aren’t familiar with the term worsted: Worsted wool is combed, leaving the long fibers before spinning to make a stronger, finer and more wrinkle resistant fabric.

Silk Gazar: A term which does not appear to have come into general use until 1967; this fabric was developed by Balenciaga, together with textile designer Gustav Zumsteg. It is a heavy, sized silk sheer of even texture.  Although it is too small to read here, this sketch says “gazar violet” inthe top right corner, with a swatch in the lower left.

A cabochon or cabachon, from the Middle French caboche (head), is a gemstone which has been shaped and polished as opposed to facetted.  These were used on several pieces.

Yves Saint Laurent is credited with the emancipation of women’s fashion with his tuxedo look and the democratization for high fashion with his Rive Gauche line, when he used clothing elements of the masses.  YSL found inspiration many place, but the three main areas show cased at the de Young were Fine Artist, Foregin Cultures, and Nature.

Fine Artists such as Picasso, Matisse, Vincent Van Gogh, Georges Braque, Tom Wesselman, Piet Mondrian were represented.  (image – Picasso Evening Dress, 1979)

Foreign Cultures gave flare to many of his designs as seen in his African, Moraccan, Chinese, Russian collections. (image Bambara dress, African collection, 1967)

Nature provided elements through both flora and fauna as seen with his use of feathers,  leaves, horse hair, butterflies and silk flowers. (image pheasant & vulture feather coat,)

 

 

 

Many of the garments displayed in San Francisco were in Montreal exhibit, here is a link.

http://fibrequarterly.blogspot.com/2008/08/love-yves-st-laurent-in-montreal.html

Elements cross over Home & Fashion 

Interesting materials as seen in the feather coat above.

Tassels were found all over the place, belts, boots, coats and evening gowns.

Contrast, Leading trim in fur with tassels, this Russian collection coat from 1976 had it all.

 

Leading edge loops and buttons would make for an eye catching detail on a window treatment. A Chinese jacket inspiration.

 

Cascaded tassels where small, medium, to larger tassels were nested and drawn together, I wish I had a picture. 

 

If you’d like to learn more about Yves Saint Laurent: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Saint_Laurent_(designer)

YSL Laurent exhibit website: http://www.ysldeyoung.org/

Since photographs were not allowed.  My attached images are photos of postcards I bought (credits to Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.) Illustration credits go to Tom Tierney in Yves St. Laurent paper dolls.

Show ends  April 5, 2009 at the de Young Museum, Textile Gallery

My business tag line is “Custom Home Accessories”.

So, when a client who lives on a boat and has a flare for the theatric needs some work done, is it is marine grade cushions? No. Is it privacy window treatments for the living space? No.  Is it decorative pillows? Definitely No.  It is ….

Custom made – Ensign & Storm size pirate flags.

Shiver me timbers!

A “Furoshiki” is a traditional Japanese cloth used to wrap gifts, clothes, and other goods.

In 1982 while traveling in Japan, my most extravagant purchase was a beautiful kimono.  The shop keeper folded it and placed it into a box then took a simple dark green and white floral printed scarf and wrapped the box such that it had handles for me to carry it.  Although I have had a love affair with fabric all my life, that was the beginning of a new appreciation for a simple square of cloth.  

My appreciation continues.  My favorite clothing accessory is the scarf.  My favorite baby gift is a large piece of hemmed flannel.  My favorite piece of pool and beach wear is the sarong. And finally one of my few key pieces of camping and hiking equipment is the bandana.  Recently used the bandana to wrap my daughter’s sprained ankle to finish a hike around the lake.

As I continue to seek simple ways to be more environmentally considerate. I have frequently thought of my Japanese fabric wrapped package, however it wasn’t until recently that I learned that it had a name, Furoshiki.

This practice has been revived in Japan. The appeal of this form of wrapping is that the cloth is reused for other purposes, and it is an eco-effective technique in this regard. Furoshiki means “bath spread” and it derives from the practice of bundling clothes at public baths in the Edo Period (1603-1867). Over time, Furoshikis were used to protect goods when transporting and decorating goods for presents.  

In 2006, Japan’s Minister of the Environment, Yuriko Koike, pointed out, that this seems like a pretty good time to bring wrap back on a global scale. It’s reusable, durable and versatile–and it makes wrapping and carrying stuff a heck of a lot more stylish than your typical sack of polyethylene.  And how wonderful it would be to use the furoshiki (or any big, durable and pretty cloth) this holiday as both wrapping and present. In Japan, Furoshiki are still commonly used to wrap and transport lunch boxes (bento) and often double as a table mat for the lunch.

Modern furoshiki can be made of a variety of cloths, including silk, cotton, rayon, polyester and nylon.There is no one set size for furoshiki, they can range from hand sized to larger than bed-sheets. The most common sizes are 45cm (17.7 inch) and 68-72cm (26.7-28.3 inch).

The following are the names of many of the types of wrapping that can be done.

basic wrap (otsukai tsutsumi)

four tie wrap (yotsu musubi)

watermelon wrap (suika tsutsumi)

shoulder wrap (katakake fukuro)

two books wrap (hon tsutsumi) roll wrap (maki tsutsumi)

one bottle wrap (ippon bin tsutsumi)

two bottle wrap (nihon bin tsutsumi)

I have recently been using a variety of Furoshiki in my daily life and they had proved to be beautiful, helpful and environmentally sound.  In fact, at a recent party where several people asked me about my Furoshiki’s a woman excitedly told me that she and her sister have been exchanging birthday gifts in the same piece of birthday cake fabric for 30 years. In one weekend I’ve saved our worlds landfill 6 plastic bags on one gift of wrapping paper.

Thank you to the following for descriptions and images.

www.furoshiki.com 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furoshiki